Browse dictionary
Showing 1-20 of 211 results in 211 entries
1. absolute, adj. (and adv.) and n. View full entry c1400
...Grammar....
2. accusative, adj. and n. View full entry c1400
...Grammar....
3. acetable, n. View full entry c1429
...Roman Hist. = acetabulum1....
4. aedile, n. and adj. View full entry 1481
...Roman Hist. Any of several magistrates who superintended public buildings, policing, and other municipal matters. Hence in extended use: a person in charge of urban housing and building; a municipal officer....
5. aid, n. View full entry 1419
...A levy or subsidy paid to the Crown to defray military or other extraordinary expenses. Now chiefly hist....
6. Alan, n. and adj. View full entry a1450
...A member of a nomadic people of the northern Caucasus from whom the Ossetians are thought to be descended....
7. allegiance, n. View full entry a1425
...Originally: (Feudal Law) the duty, homage, etc., owed by a vassal or liege man (liege man) to the king or lord from whom he holds land; fealty (now...
8. amphora, n. View full entry a1475
...Classical Hist. A two-handled vessel, of various shape, used by the ancients for holding wine, oil, etc....
9. Arctic, adj. and n. View full entry c1400
...Astron. Designating the celestial north pole, and the Pole Star that marks its position in the sky. Chiefly, and now only, in particular compounds, as Arctic Circle2 and...
10. ˈarrow-head, n. View full entry 1483
...The head or pointed part of an arrow, made separately and of different material from the shaft....
11. attorn, v. View full entry 1458
...trans. To turn over to another; to assign, transfer (goods, tenants' service, allegiance, etc.)....
12. aureola, n. View full entry 1483
...Medieval Church and R.C. Church The celestial crown won by a martyr, virgin, or doctor, as victor over the world, the flesh, or the devil; the special degree of...
13. ˈaverage, n.1 View full entry 1489
...Some kind of service due by tenants to the feudal superior. Explained in the Law Dictionaries, since Sir J. Skene, as ‘service done by the tenant with his beasts of burden’ (see...
14. bitumen, n. View full entry a1464
...Originally, a kind of mineral pitch found in Palestine and Babylon, used as mortar, etc. The same as asphalt, mineral pitch, Jew's pitch, Bitumen judaicum....
15. black-a-lyre, n. View full entry 1421
...In medieval England: a type of black cloth from Lier in Brabant; (also) any cloth resembling this. Cf. green of lyre...
16. butt, n.2 View full entry 1423
...A cask for wine or ale, of capacity varying from 108 to 140 gallons. (Earlier the size was app. much smaller; see quot. 1443; cf. also 1462 in...
17. Capitoline, adj. and n. View full entry ?a1439
...Designating, of, or relating to the smallest of the hills of Rome or the temple which formerly stood at its summit. Also: designating the gods worshipped there, esp. Jupiter. Cf. Capitol...
18. captivity, n. View full entry c1400
...The condition of a captive; the state of being held prisoner by an enemy or conqueror; sometimes spec. that of the Jews at Babylon....
19. † carucate | carrucate, n. View full entry ?a1475
...A measure of land, varying with the nature of the soil, etc., being as much as could be tilled with one plough (with its team of 8 oxen) in a year; a...
20. ˈcastleward, n. View full entry c1425
...The warden of a castle. Obs....
